Transplants for Children supports families

Published 9:47 pm, Thursday, December 6, 2012

When Erika Flores' 4-year-old son needed a bone marrow transplant in 2009, bills piled up so badly that she couldn't afford to fix her car when engine troubles hit.

That's when Transplants for Children came to her rescue.

Transplants for Children is a nonprofit assisting the families of young organ or tissue transplant recipients cope with the emotional, financial and social challenges they encounter before, during and after transplantation.

“We step in and immediately help the family with crisis assistance (funding), but what we do best is we have the social aspect where we connect transplant families together so they're not isolated,” said Staci Almager, executive director of Transplants for Children.

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The organization was founded in 1986, and offers a variety of resources for families both during the tumultuous time leading up to a transplant and for years afterward.

The nonprofit is part of the San Antonio Express-News' annual Grace of Giving series, which highlights a different agency every day through Christmas.

Flores was a stay-at-home mom with four children when it was discovered that her son, now 8, needed a bone marrow transplant.

“It was really hard, it was not an easy time, but we have a strong belief in God and our faith helped us a lot, the transplant helped us a lot,” Flores said. “The people close to us became like a big family. You just focus on getting through. That makes it a little bit easier.”

Transplants for Children helps connect the families of sick children to each other, creating a support group for those going through similarly rough times.

“It's a very isolating experience and I think the No. 1 thing it does for a family is it allows them to create a new community,” said Almager, whose daughter is currently hospitalized with kidney failure. “When your child is so ill that they are literally dying and need a transplant of any kind, it's very, very hard to explain to your usual social groups and it becomes very challenging for kids to deal with it. It allows you to speak with other parents in a way that you can't with a soccer mom.”

The nonprofit helped Flores and her family members through their social services and crisis assistance funding.

The nonprofit offers services such as SibShop, where the siblings of sick children can discuss their feelings throughout the transplant process, which aims to decrease any isolation or anxiety they may be experiencing. Flores said her older children, now 11 and 16, benefited from the service.

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This agency needs people to sign up to be organ donors, as well as financial donors to assist their crisis assistance service. Those interested in monetary donations can donate online or sign up for various annual events, the next of which takes place on Super Bowl Sunday.

www.transplantsforchildren.org/

Almager said children needing transplants typically spend at least 100 days in the hospital, and TFC provides crisis assistance funding to help families make ends meet while paying hospital bills.

The nonprofit can help with expenses such as medications, utilities, car troubles or even parking in the hospital parking garage while the family adjusts to the unexpected expenses of their child's prolonged hospital stay.